Belated honors

For the Balboa Island Yacht Club, the awards banquet is an annual

rite of passage in which the club’s members receive trophies they

earned in paddle-boarding, rowing, swimming, diving and sailing.

This year’s celebration, however, was a special one. Twelve

members from the World War II era attended the event, held Aug. 19 at

the Balboa Pavilion, and received some long-overdue trophies.

The banquet marks the end of Balboa Island Yacht Club’s 84th

summer. The club meets at a dock on Balboa Island every weekday

morning during the summers, and kids ages 4 to 17 participate in

various activities. Officers are elected from among the kids to

manage the club.

From 1942 to 1945, there was no metal available for public use, so

winners received scrolls instead of the typical trophies and

medallions.

Ralph Potter, 74, whose great-niece Quincy Bock was this summer’s

commodore, was a member of the club during wartime. Not long ago, he

joked with Quincy that he was still waiting for his trophy.

Quincy and her mother, Diane Bock, talked about it and decided it

would be great to get extra trophies and try to track down some of

the former members who had received scrolls.

“They were even cuter than the little 4-year-olds going up to get

their trophies,” said Diane Bock. “I thought it was the highlight of

the evening.”

Allan Beek’s parents founded the yacht club because they noticed

the kids who visited the island during the summer didn’t have much to

do.

Beek said this year’s banquet was different from others because

there was more nostalgia and a greater effort to get members from

years past to attend.

“They gave me a pewter dish engraved with my name,” said Beek, who

was commodore in 1942.

Barbara Potter Birnie, 76, was a member from 1937 to 1945. The

sister of Ralph Potter, she said her brother swears Mrs. Beek

promised all the kids they would get trophies someday when the war

was over.

Birnie said the banquet was exciting because she got to see old

friends from the summers on Balboa Island.

“It was very heartwarming to see how much it meant to all the

people, even so many years later,” Diane Bock said.

They still have some of the pewter- plated dishes, in case they

track down any more former Balboa Island Yacht Club members who

received scrolls during World War II.